Drumnadrochit - Loch Ness - Urquhart Castle - Scottish Crannog Centre
Day
13
At mid-morning we leave Orkney to take the
ferry back to the mainland. We will then
take a beautiful drive to the village of Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness where we
will spend the next two nights.
Day
14
In the morning, we will take a boat ride on
Loch Ness to the wonderful ruins of Urquhart Castle with its superb views
across the Loch. With its good natural
defences, it was once home to a Pictish fort before the stone castle was built
in the 13th century. From the
mid 1300s it was a Scottish royal castle but, during the Jacobite rising, it
was occupied and blown up by English troops in 1692 and has been in ruins
since.
In the evening, we will have our Group
farewell dinner.
Day
15
On the last day of our tour, we will drive
to Edinburgh and, on the way, visit the Scottish Crannog Centre on beautiful
Loch Tay. Crannogs are artificial or
modified natural islands constructed from the early Iron Age. Loch Tay contains the remains of 18 such
sites and the Iron Age roundhouse at the Centre has been reconstructed on its
original site joined to the shore by a 16 metre long timber walkway. The Centre contains a small museum and
exhibits of life in the Iron Age including woodworking, cooking and working
with fibres. The roundhouse gives a
wonderful insight into the lives of the Celtic people who once lived on Loch
Tay.
We then return to Edinburgh arriving late afternoon when our tour ends.
|